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File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’ [189r] (400/522)
The record is made up of 1 volume (244 folios). It was created in 1 Dec 1917-26 Jun 1922. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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PAET 1.—INTRODUCTORY.
(1) General Remarks .—The author while engaged in Geological studies
in the Bakhtiari country with a view to possible extension of operations by the
Anglo-Persian Oil Company, was called to Baghdad to examine various known
occurrences of oil in the occupied territory of Mesopotamia, and to give an
opinion on the prospects of obtaining oil in quantity.
All arrangements were made from Baghdad by the Deputy Civil Commis
sioner, Captain A. T. Wilson, C.M.G., OLE., D.S.O., to whom the thanks of the
author are due, as also to the staff and officers of the 14th and 15th Divisions,
and the Political Officer of Khanaqin, Major Soane, who all accorded hospitality,
assistance and protection, without which the work would not have been possible.
The total distance travelled from Baghdad was about 1,000 miles and as this
was done by means of a Pord motor car the work was accomplished with the
maximum speed and efficiency. It was necessary to reach points nearly
30 miles beyond the front line trenches from Ramadi when escorts of armoured
cars or Cavalry were provided. Subsequently Hit was captured and it was
then possible to examine its famous pitch springs. On the Persian frontier
near Mandali work was much impeded by the hostile attitude of a local tribe
of Kurds, and in fact had to be suspended till a punitive expedition was under
taken against them.
A preliminary report only was submitted in Baghdad on the 11 th March
1918, as it was necessary to make the most of what little remained of the cold
season to complete some Geological survey urgently needed by the Anglo-
Persian Oil Company.
(£) The Nature of the Work .—In order to forecast the prospects of
petroleum the oil Geologist ordinarily constructs a Geological map and so finds
out the thickness and type of the various strata forming the earth’s crust, the
relative positions of those strata which are petroliferous and those which are
not, and finally locates the positions in which the oil may be concentrated and
stored. It may be stated at the outset that this has not been completely
accomplished, and never can be in a large part of Mesopotamia west of
Khanaqin, since it is covered by alluvial and recent formations. However, as
will appear in the sequel, it was fortunately possible to obtain sufficient
information to definitely guide the main practical consideration of drilling.
The author has investigated a country entirely new and unknown Geolo
gically, no information whatever was available except reports of oil and
bitumen in various localities. It was quite u nknown in which series of rocks
the oil occurred or which strata deserved special attention. At Naft Khana
the rock formations were well exposed and it was possible to make a detailed
Geological map (Map No, 1). Incidentally a visit was paid to the old welfs of
the Anglo-Persian Oil Company at Chah Surkh near Qasr-i-Shirin, with a
view to obtaining any knowledge bearing on Naft Khana. It is to be regretted
that little information about these wells is at present obtainable in Persia :
this would be useful because bores put down at Naft Khana will penetrate the
same strata. In the region of Hit the Geological conditions are entirely
different from those towards the Persian frontier, and the formations which
contain oil in the ^latter district do not exist at all in the former. The rocks
which give oil on the Euphrates are not brought to the surface till Hit is
reached, so that here they may be studied for the first time.
PART 2 .—GEOGRAPHICAL.
(3) General Remarks. The outstanding physical features of Mesopotamia
are, as is well known, the rivers Tigris and Euphrates and the desert between
and beyond them. By means of irrigation an enormous amount of the desert
can be converted into grain growing country. Eastwards the desert gradually
gives place to the foothills of the Persian mountain ranges, but after a few
miles of low hills the frontier is reached.
In any economic undertaking the distance of Baghdad from the Persian
Gulf cannot be ignored : to the bar of the Shatt-el-Arab (where the combined
270 F & P D
About this item
- Content
This volume contains correspondence, memoranda, reports, telegrams and maps and geological drawings, regarding the geological examination of regions in Mesopotamia and the prospect of petroleum [oil] in these areas.
Included in the volume are the following reports:
- ‘MESOPOTAMIA GEOLOGICAL REPORTS No. 7-11’ (‘No. 7’ is crossed out and replaced with ‘No. 8’), 1920 (ff 9-22)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No. 7 NOTES ON THE UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF NORTHEN MESOPOTAMIA’, 1920 (ff 25-31)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No. 6 NOTES ON ZAKHO AND DOHUK [Duhok]’, 1920 (ff 41-44)
- ‘MESOPOTAMIA GEOLOGICAL REPORT 1919’, 1920 (ff 57-109)
- ‘REPORT OF THE BITUMINOUS DEPOSIT NEAR KIFRI’, 1919 (f 114)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 5. THE KIFRI DISTRICT’ (ff 115-116)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 4. RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE COUNTRY ON THE RIGHT BANK OF THE RIVER TIGRIS BETWEEN BAIJI AND MOSUL’, 1919 (ff 122-129)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 3. RECONNAISSANCE REPORT ON THE EUPHRATES VALLEY BETWEEN HILLAH AND HIT’, 1919 (ff 131-143)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 2. PRELIMINARY NOTES ON THE JABAL HAMRIN’, 1919 (f 143)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (Mesopotamia) No 1 ON THE DISTRICT OF QAIYARAH [Al Qayyarah]’, 1919 (ff 146-151)
- ‘APPENDIX. Translation of a Captured Document. Report of a Tour to the Coal Area and Petroleum Springs in the Zone of the Sixth L. of C. Inspectorate’, 1919 (ff 156-158)
- ‘No 13. Notes on the Jabal Gilabat [Qilabat] between Chinchal-al-Kabir and Qarah Tappah’, 1919 (f 164)
- ‘No 14. Notes on the Jabal Hamrin between Qarah Tappah and Table Mountain’, 1919 (ff 164v-167)
- ‘No. 10. Notes on the Geology of the Country between Tazah Khurmatu and Tauq [Tukhama Khulu]’, 1919 (ff 182-185)
- ‘REPORTS ON THE PROSPECTS OF PETROLEUM IN THE BAGHDAD WILAYAT [Vilayet]’, 1918 (ff 187-201)
- ‘Report No 9. Oil in the Kirkuk Anticline’, 1919 (ff 204-205)
- ‘No 3. Report on the Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Khanuqah, S.E. of Sharqat [Ash Sharqat]’, 1918 (f 207)
- ‘No 4. Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Qaiyarah and its continuation, the Jab-al-Najmah’, 1919 (ff 208-209)
- ‘No 5. Possibilities of Obtaining Oil in the Jab-al-Mishrak [Al Mishraq] and Country West of Hammam Ali [Hammam al Ali]’, 1919 (ff 210-211)
- ‘No 6. The Country between Mosul and Quwair [Al Kuwayr] on the Greater Zab, and its Prospects as Oil-producing Territory’, 1919 (ff 211v-212)
- ‘Report No 7. Sulphur near the Confluence of the Greater Zab with the Tigris’, 1919 (f 213)
- ‘No 8. Prospects of Obtaining Oil in the Quwair Dome’, 1919 (ff 213-214)
- ‘Appendix to Report No. 4, on the Jab-al-Qaiyarah Oil-field’, 1919 (f 214v)
- ‘Report on the prospects of obtaining Oil in the Jabal-Hamrin and Jabal- Makhul between Tikrit and Sharqat’, 1918 (ff 217-218)
- ‘Odd Notes on the Country between Tikrit and the Jabal-Hamrin and Jabal Makhul’, 1918 (ff 219-220)
- ‘PRELIMINARY REPORT ON THE PROSPECTS OF PETROLEUM IN THE BAGHDAD WILAYAT’, 1918 (ff 233-236).
Also included in the volume are the following maps and geological drawings:
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No 8’, 1920 (f 20)
- ‘To ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No 8 ON THE SULAIMANIYAH DISTRICT’, 1920 (f 21)
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT MESOPOTAMIA No: 7a. THE WATER RESOURCES OF THE MANDALI-BADRAH DISTRICT’, 1920 (f 30)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL REPORT (MESOPOTAMIA) No 7 NOTES ON THE UNDERGROUND WATER RESOURCES OF NORTHERN MESOPOTAMIA’, 1920 (f 31)
- ‘TO ACCOMPANY GEOLOGICAL REPORT No 6’, 1920 (f 44)
- ‘TRANSVERSE SECTION. JABAL HAMRIN’ (f 88)
- ‘Diagrammatic Section across Jabal Hamrine [Hamrin] in the Table mountain area, shewing [showing] relationship of Pos Tertray [Post-Tertiary] Gravel to the Tertainis [Tertiaries]’ (f 168)
- ‘Red Clay & Sandstone Series Transverse section across Jabal Gilbat’ (f 169)
- ‘QĀRAH TAPPAH’, 1918 (f 170)
- ‘CHINCHĀL-TALISHĀN’, 1918 (f 172)
- ‘SHAHRABĀN’, 1917 (f 174)
- ‘MANSURĪYAH AL JABAL’, 1918 (f 176)
- ‘1 Diagrammatic Section N[orth]. of the Tuz Khurmatu’ (f 183)
- ‘2 Diagrammatic Section oposite [ sic ] Sulaiman Beg, just N[orth]. of the stream’ (f 183)
- ‘3 Diagrammatic Section oposite [ sic ] Sulaiman Beg just S[outh]. of the Stream’ (f 183v)
- ‘Transverse Section across Jabal Nasaz near Gil’ (f 185)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL MAP OF NAFT KHANA DISTRICT OF MESOPOTAMIA’ (f 198)
- ‘THE PETROLEUM DEPOSITS OF HIT’ (f 199)
- ‘GEOLOGICAL RECONNAISSANCE IN N.E. MESOPOTAMIA’ (f 200)
- ‘SECTION FROM SHAHRABAN TO CHAH SURKH [Chiya Surkh]’ (f 201)
- Transverse Section Maps of Jabal Hamrin and Jabal Makhul (f 220).
The volume comprises internal correspondence between British officials of different departments. The principal correspondents are: the Civil Commissioner, Baghdad; the Under-Secretary of State, India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. ; the Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. , Baghdad; officers of the Imperial Mineral Resources Bureau; and officers from the Petroleum Department.
The volume includes a divider which gives the subject number, the year the subject file was opened, the subject heading, and a list of correspondence references by year. This is placed at the back of the correspondence.
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (244 folios)
- Arrangement
The volume’s contents are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the volume.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence (used for referencing) commences at the inside front cover with 1 and terminates at the inside back cover with 246; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
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- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/10/815
- Title
- File 1450/1919 ‘Mesopotamia & Kurdistan: Geological Reports on’
- Pages
- front, back, spine, edge, head, tail, front-i, 2r:19v, 22r:29v, 32r:43v, 45r:87v, 89r:167v, 177r:182v, 184r:184v, 186r:197v, 202r:219v, 221r:245v, back-i
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
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- Open Government Licence